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"If a person comes to the shelter to either adopt, redeem or rescue an animal, the person can look at the photos, select the animal which the attendants then verify is the correct animal and then wheel the animal out in a portable kennel for inspection," Holifield said.

"We have the photos already, so posting them on the Internet was just another way we work to give every animal the opportunity to walk out the front door," he said.

The first images went online May 17, the day after the new shelter opened.

Holifield said it didn't take 24 hours before people were calling about some of the animals and whether they could be adopted or rescued.

"So far, it's been a very useful tool that helps us not only in managing the shelter and caring for the animals, but also helps people looking for their missing pet or others looking for that first-time dog or cat," he said.

"We are having a number of inquiries every day and in one case we had several inquiries about a particular dog within just a few hours after the animal arrived here," Holifield said.

He also reminded pet owners about some relatively new fees county commissioners levied to help defray the shelter's operational costs.

"If a pet owner finds his or her dog or cat here, there's a $25 transport fee for when the animal is picked up and a $25 processing and boarding fee owners will have to pay before the pets are released," Holifield said. "Those fees are paid only by pet owners whose pets arrive here.

"And there's a $10 rabies vaccination fee that must be paid before the animal leaves," he said. "If pet owners can prove their pets have received rabies vaccinations, then the pets won't have to be vaccinated again."